Does this community need a food pantry?

That’s the question members of the Lake Region Ministerial Association, the St. Vincent of DePaul Society and Dakota Prairie Community action Agency have all been grappling with.

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Devils Lake Journal - Devils Lake, ND

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Posted Jan. 9, 2013 at 10:53 AM
Updated Jan 9, 2013 at 10:56 AM

Posted Jan. 9, 2013 at 10:53 AM
Updated Jan 9, 2013 at 10:56 AM

That’s the question members of the Lake Region Ministerial Association, the St. Vincent of DePaul Society and Dakota Prairie Community action Agency have all been grappling with.

Over the past two years Dakota Prairie Food pantry served an average of 439 households per year which included about 500 adults and 520 children a year. In 2011 they gave out 14, 875 pounds of food and in 2012 they gave out 9,196 pounds of food.

Did you know that Devils Lake doesn’t have a full time community food pantry? Dakota Prairie Community Action Agency is an emergency food pantry. A lot of food is given out and it is wonderfully supported by our community, but it is not a full time food pantry.

The Lake Region Ministerial Association, Salvation Army, St. Vincent of DePaul and Dakota Prairie Community Action Agency have been discussing creating a community run food pantry.

They’ve determined that there is a need for a full-time food pantry in our community. There are a number of reasons for this need. An average of 12,000 pounds of food a year may seem like a lot, but that still doesn’t cover the need in the community. Being an emergency food pantry means that households are limited to how much food, what kinds of food and how often they can get food.

There is a true belief that churches should be the driving force to meet the food/hunger needs for the less fortunate in every community and there is a genuine concern that as funding for Dakota Prairie Community Action Agency continues to decline there is no certainty that the emergency food pantry at Dakota Prairie will be able to continue. Many North Dakota communities have food pantries that operate largely through the support of churches and other community organizations.

There is going to be a meeting on Thursday, Jan. 10 at 7 p.m. at the Heartland Care Center Community Room.

Interested/driven church members and community members, along with service clubs/organizations from the Lake Region are encouraged to attend.

More details will be shared and conversations will take place about where to go from here. Please join us if you are willing to share this vision of a new “COMMUNITY” run food pantry.